Jewelry by TKG

New Blog for the New Year

2008-12-30T20:00:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

I've decided to start a new blog for 2009:

http://bytkg.blogspot.com

I decided that since I closed my jewelry business I didn't want to keep blogging under that name. So I just took the "jewelry" part off. My new blog will be EVERYTHING by me - my favorites, my thoughts, my pictures, my crafts...Hope to see you there!

Hope you all have a fun, safe New Year!

Owl

2008-12-28T14:23:00.000-08:00

We were driving home and saw this owl about a quarter of a mile from home. I didn't have the right lens, so we drove home and came back to see if it was still there. I got some really great pictures of it. We can hear them at night, but we've never seen one. It was very exciting for us.

Rescued from the snow

2008-12-28T14:20:00.001-08:00

Our HOA hired someone to dig us out. The snow has been melting pretty fast. I'm actually looking forward to being able to drive in to work tomorrow.

White Christmas

2008-12-28T14:17:00.000-08:00

Look what I got!

2008-12-26T14:01:00.000-08:00

Hello Kitty 3-qt. Popcorn Popper

This isn't something I would buy for myself, but totally LOVE that I got it as a gift!!

p.s. I thought the snow was done, but now we have rain/snow mix. Will this ever end?! *sigh*

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T12:13:00.001-08:00

Our tree, complete with vintage electric train set from the '40s.

Environmentally friendly water bottle

2008-12-24T12:00:00.000-08:00

Precidio Aluminum "Red Flower" Water Bottle - macys.com

After being stuck at the FedEx facility for the past 4 days, my new water bottle finally arrived. Being trapped in the house makes a visit from the FedEx driver that much more exciting. (MORE snow today. Can't believe it.)

Pictures from Thanksgiving in Hawaii

2008-12-23T12:17:00.001-08:00

I miss being at home.

Online window shopping at Nordstrom

2008-12-23T10:39:00.000-08:00

I'm still stuck in the house from all the snow. What better way to pass the time than window shop at Nordstrom?

Coach - Bleecker Metallic Tote

Nadri - Crystal Bangle

Armani Collezioni - Ottoman Knit Jacket

Linea Paolo - Blush

Juicy Couture - Bow & Charm Long Cashmere Gloves; Ruffles & Bows Cashmere Scarf; Bow & Charm Cashmere Hat

Lucky Brand - Floral Dial Bracelet Watch

More snow, more dvds and a couple of magazines

2008-12-22T18:00:00.000-08:00

More snow is expected. We ventured in to town today to save me from cabin fever. We stocked up on more DVDs and I got a couple of magazines in the mail. I think I'll be good for a few more days.

Shoe Sale

2008-12-22T10:58:00.000-08:00

Nine West.com is having an additional 30% off the sale price and free shipping if your order is over $25. I want these...

McSteamy - $48.99
Hearts - $34.99

Luvu - $41.99

Snow and cabin fever

2008-12-21T17:25:00.000-08:00

We never get this much snow. It's crazy. We've had close to 10 inches in the past 4 days, with more to come. I think the most we've ever had is 3.

I've been stuck in the house for 4 days and counting... I'm going a little stir crazy. Some things I've been doing to pass the time:

A ton of baking and this may be my new favorite cookie.
Lots and lots of laundry.
LOVE this blog my sister recommended to me.
Balancing the checkbook and paying bills.
So happy they won their last & Coach's last home game.
Made "thank you" cards.
Went here and rented a ton of videos...some okay, some not that good.
Re-reading this series - sad but true.

I may have to venture in to work on Monday just to get out of the house for a few hours. Hope everyone is warm and safe.

Back...busy...behind

2008-12-09T11:31:00.001-08:00

We're back from our trip. It was so relaxing and nice to be around family and friends. I miss it already.

We dove right in to the holiday with decorating, getting ready for our annual party and shopping/wrapping/mailing. Things have been a whirlwind. I'm so behind with posting picture, posting my blog, writing and sending cards.

I hope that after this weekend things will calm down and I can get caught up on everything. I have some pictures from our trip that I want to share... hopefully soon.

Have a great rest of the week!

Warm days ahead

2008-11-24T19:14:00.001-08:00

... not here in Seattle. It’s been nice and sunny, but soooo cold! We leave on vacation tomorrow back home to Oahu. We'll be spending Thanksgiving with my family. I can't wait for all the good food, warm weather and of course to see everyone.

We've already got our Christmas decorations up in our house so we don't have to worry about it when we get back. We'll just have to get a tree, which in itself is a huge task. It’s a little weird to be surrounded by Christmas when we haven't even had Thanksgiving, but it does put me in the holiday mood and makes me want to shop and wrap gifts.

I hope you all have a delicious Thanksgiving, short lines on Black Friday and a great week overall!

Computer bling

2008-11-22T13:03:00.000-08:00

I was flipping through my Allure and saw this

so I went to look for it here and found these too

Not on my shopping list, so I'll have to pass for now.

Etsy Favorites

2008-11-21T22:22:00.000-08:00

As Black Friday nears and so many stores are having huge sales, I am still trying to buy as much handmade products this year for gifts as I can. Here are just a few of my ETSY favorites.

Soiree Print - Stephanie Levy

Autumn Kiss - Papercut Art by Tina Tarnoff

Small bunny vase - pretty random objects

The red flower wall hanging - the little stitch by parkersewn

Signature 'Dahlia Press' card - dahlia press

Hope you have a great weekend!

Blown Glass Pumpkin

2008-11-17T11:16:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday, my girlfriend and I went to artbyfire to make blown glass pumpkins. Neither of us had done blown glass before, and I am still kicking myself for forgetting to bring my camera! But it was so much fun, we both want to go again.

They let us choose between 4 different color combinations and we more like helped them with making the pumpkins. They did all the hard parts - like making sure the liquid glass didn't fall off the pole, fixing the pumpkins when we made their shapes look more like an eggplant, and making and attaching the stem. We got to put the colored glass onto the liquid glass, heat up the colored glass in the ovens, and blow through the pole to make the bubble.

We were disappointed when they told us we couldn't take them home that same day. We're both all about the instant gratification! But my girlfriend pick them up on Saturday, and here it is:

So much fun! I can't wait to do it again.

Decorating my side of the room

2008-11-13T21:30:00.000-08:00

My craft workspace shares the room with our workout equipment. I have one side of the room and the equipment is on the other. My husband had some boxing posters on the wall, but he took them down and is letting me decorate my side of the room. So now I'm in the process of finding some inspiring things to hang.
Some things I've ordered:
*these peonies by fieryeyed photography
*thistles by Abby try again
*this tree by Buttons Magee

I'm pretty excited with my purchases so far and can't wait to get them all framed and hung!

No lunch today

2008-11-13T13:09:00.000-08:00

So I had a whole fun, upbeat topic that I was going to post today while eating my lunch BUT I cooked my edamame, picked up the first pod and almost puked. There was a worm (or a maggot, I'm not really sure) half way out of one of the beans and some brown gook in the pod. It was so disgusting, but like the car wreck that you can't turn away from, I had to keep looking at it and poking at it to the point that I don't think I can ever eat another edamame again. I tried to take a picture, but I only have my phone camera and it didn't do it justice (plus I thought it might not be a good idea to post that... the few readers I have might never come back!). So instead I showed it to a few other people who are now foregoing lunch today as well, thanks to me. And because I can't get it off my mind, I decided to share with all of you my utter disgust.

(BTW, do you like the melodrama? I'm famous for it. Though I kind of wish you could see the worm, then you wouldn't think I was exaggerating quite as much as you think I am. Plus this is giving me flashbacks to the time I was eating a peach and had a BIG bug come out of the pit... needless to say I have a thing about inspecting my food before I eat it.)

I think I need to eat something totally fake, processed and fried for dinner. Something with no chance of having a bug in it.

Ending...

2008-11-07T15:41:00.001-08:00

I have decided that I will stop my jewelry business at the end of this year. It has been fun, but I just don't feel totally inspired with jewelry making right now. I'm thinking of opening a new business that's more generic where I can sell different types of handmade items and not be locked into just jewelry. But for now, I will just take some time off from being a seller and enjoy being just a shopper! I'm also considering moving my blog over to a new name, something that's maybe more just about me. But haven't made any decisions about that either.

BUT, because I am closing my ETSY shop, I am also offering HUGE DISCOUNTS on all my pieces. Unfortunately some of them are starting to expire and I won't be re-listing them, so hurry and take a look! Each jewelry piece comes in its own white gift box.

If you're in the Seattle/Redmond area, I will be having a closeout sale on Nov 15. I will also be in Kailua, Oahu for another closeout sale on Nov 30th. Please email me (jewelrybytkg at yahoo.com) or leave a comment if you'd like to attend either of these.

HOPE

2008-11-04T16:02:00.000-08:00

I'm so nervous for the outcome of today. I've seen the predictions and they are promising, but I am still waiting with baited breath for the final results.

November is here

2008-11-02T17:59:00.000-08:00

In some ways I can't believe its November already, but I am also excited for the upcoming holidays.

It was pouring rain today, but in one of the breaks we got out of the house and found some leaves still on the trees. It has also been incredibly windy, so the trees in our neighborhood are bare. I've enjoyed fall so much more this year now that I am taking the time to notices the colors, the cold and anticipating my trip home for Thanksgiving.

This was finally delivered on Friday, it was on back order forever. I've been playing with it all weekend and I have decided it will be part of THE holiday card this year.

Hope you've had a great weekend and did something fun in your "extra" hour!

Pumpkin Family

2008-10-31T19:36:00.001-07:00

Just had to sneak in one last post of the pumpkins we carved =)

Happy Halloween!!

2008-10-31T15:40:00.000-07:00

A card I made this year for Halloween.

Hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween weekend!

Olive Chips/Crackers

2008-10-31T14:53:00.001-07:00

I have a reaction to wheat, so I'm always trying to find wheat/gluten free alternatives. I just found these chips/crackers at Whole Foods. They're so good. You can really taste the olives in them. I ate these with my chicken salad (which I put dried cranberries and celery in). Delish!

Seattle Artist Treasury

2008-10-30T16:53:00.001-07:00

Check out some of these amazing Seattle artists and their ETSY shops.

Treasury expires on (correction) Sunday.

Great weekend and a Thank You!

2008-10-28T08:26:00.000-07:00

We has a great weekend in Portland this weekend visiting with family and friends.

We went to a pumpkin patch with a live scarecrow. He was so realistic it was amazing!

And they had a horse drawn hay ride - the kids had a blast!

Greg's friend was in a 12 hour enduro at the Portland International Raceway. They didn't make it through the whole race, but it was great fun.

I want to thank Julianne for her lovely post about my jewelry.

Have a great week!

Sunny Calendar

2008-10-24T18:58:00.000-07:00

I got my calendar from Seventy and Sunny by Alyson. I love it! I think she is working on more if you're interested in buying one for yourself.

We're off to Portland for the weekend.

Treasury

2008-10-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

I've created another Treasury in Etsy.

Check it out before it expires on Friday!

Decorations

2008-10-22T09:36:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for Halloween...
Fall decorations in the dining room...
Do you love my pictures? They're by Bonnie. I think the cake one (middle) is so perfect for a dining room. It says "She saves her cake for first".

Happy Wednesday!

art card emotions

2008-10-21T11:17:00.000-07:00

I received my October art card by Heather yesterday and love it. It really resonates with me – “encourage” and “remembrances” are both emotions that have been running high for me lately.

It is coming up on the 1st anniversary of my grandmother’s passing. She was the first person close to me to die and it was really hard. I’ll be traveling back home for Thanksgiving and will be there for the anniversary as well. I love going home and being with family, but this year seems bittersweet and I am already having mixed emotions. I have been thinking about my grandmother a lot – I wore a strand of pearls that were hers and touched them all day, I look at my feet and see hers, I cook certain food and remember her always in the kitchen. Being at home will be both good and bad… I know it will be easier to pass this milestone with family, but it will also bring back so many memories that make me miss her so much. At the same time, I will be surrounded by friends and family and new babies who I am so excited to meet for the first time. I know I will have a great time, I know I will shed tears, but I also know I will be surrounded by people who love and care for me.

Mini Envelopes

2008-10-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in #2...these are just a few, I have a TON more!
These are a couple of my favorites...
I'm still trying to figure out THE holiday card design for this year... I think I've been too obsessed with the mini envelopes. I have a bunch of holiday cards/tags using my new die cut machine, but just haven't been inspired to make a larger card.

It also doesn't help that these have just been released...OMG I want them all!!

More Fall

2008-10-18T12:45:00.000-07:00

Happy Saturday.

Just a note...

2008-10-17T20:09:00.000-07:00

...we have a busy weekend ahead, but wanted to share these pictures I took today.

I want these...

2008-10-16T21:20:00.001-07:00

I admit that I'm having a small calendar fetish right now. I've already bought 2 calendars, which I can justify by telling myself that one is for home and one for the office. I thought of buying more as gifts, but I know that I would end up keeping them for myself - these are too great to give away!

You can buy yours... just click on the picture to take you to the ETSY shop of these amazing calendar artists.

Prada

2008-10-14T15:18:00.000-07:00

This is Prada. My co-worker has been brining her in and she is now the official office stress reliever.

Who could resist a face like that?!

I've been tagged!

2008-10-13T17:08:00.000-07:00

Jamie, of Pretty Ditty, has tagged me. I love her aprons (I have 3)!!

Rules:
1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

7 facts about me:

I’ve never been tagged before. I’ve only been blogging for about 2 months now, so please excuse any blogging rules or etiquettes that I may not be aware of. =)
This is my newest toy and I’m obsessed with it. I’ve made so many of these that I don’t know what I’m going to do with them all.
I religiously watch House and now think that I can self-diagnose all my illnesses.
I love my new boots, which I have in both black and brown. I also have basically this same boot, just shorter, in dark brown and red.
Chococat is my favorite character/icon/knick-knack. Sanrio makes the best pens, I take them to work… no one steals a pen with a big cat head on it.
Greg and I have been married for 5 ½ years. We got married in Rome, Italy. We keep talking about going back.
I secretly think I’m going to win the lottery one day (now I just have to start buying tickets!).

I tag:
1. Peas & Bees
2. Red Delicious Bags
3. honeyflake
4. Cozy Living
5. Satsuma Press
6. bliss
7. Things are better with a Parrott

--Laura

Fall on the 2

2008-10-12T21:08:00.000-07:00

These are some pictures I took on Hwy-2 on our way to Leavenworth. I love driving that Hwy, it's so beautiful.

Beer and Pumpkins

2008-10-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

Oktoberfest in Leavenworth, WA

Brats from Cafe Christa - Greg's favorite.

Pumpkin Patch in Redmond, WA

We had a great weekend. Hope you did too!

Calendars Galore!

2008-10-07T17:29:00.001-07:00

Just a quick note to check out all these lovely calendars I picked out in the ETSY Treasury. Hurry because it expires tomorrow.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2008-10-05T17:21:00.000-07:00

I find that I bake a lot more during the fall and winter. The smells, the warmth from the oven, the yummy goodies. I made these last night...
I love my measuring cups from Anthropologie. They were a gift, and I think they are so cute!
This is my go to cookie. Always come out great and so easy. Also, I can get the recipe right off the back of the chocolate chips!
I think the bigger ones tastes better than the smaller ones, partly because they’re a little under-baked in the centers and are ooey gooey yummy – especially when warm.
These will help get me through the upcoming work week =).

Salmon Days

2008-10-05T17:10:00.000-07:00

Some pictures from Salmon Days today.

Sweaters and Salmon

2008-10-03T16:40:00.000-07:00

I can't believe its October already. Today was a "real" fall day - rainy, cooler and gray. I'm looking forward to wearing my coats and sweaters. As I was getting ready this morning I dug out my container of winter clothes and I remembered this post that I read earlier this week and wished I could knit.

This weekend we're going to Salmon Days. We go every year, it's a tradition for us. It never fails, the weekend of Salmon Days seems like the coldest, wettest weekend of the month. But it's still worth it.

I'm getting an error when trying to upload pictures, so instead, these are some things I've been looking at this week:
- This bird that I found by reading this.
- This bunny that I first saw here.
- This calendar that I can't remember how I found.
- This group that was introduced to me here.
- And lastly... this day, which is tomorrow.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Today & This Weekend

2008-09-24T20:59:00.000-07:00

These are my violets. I love this plant, it blooms practically all year round.

All I do is water it once a week. I can't ask for a better plant.

I had to go to the dentist today to replace my old fillings. This is the 3rd visit... I'm slowly replacing them all and just have one more to go. I've been putting it off for years. I really hate the shot they give you and having your face numb for the rest of the day. But this time, I decided that the horrible high pitched sound coming from my mouth was WAY worse than the shot. I finally have full feeling back in my face, 5 hours after my appointment.

I'm looking forward to this weekend - I'm hosting a Stampin' Up party. I was reading this blog and it made me even more excited for my party. But at the same time it reminded me that I need to get on the ball and start making my holiday cards, or at least come up with a few designs. I have so many holiday stamps, a few never even used, but I can't seem to stop buying them. Holiday stamps, flower stamps and "happy birthday" stamps - I think you can never have enough.

I'm also excited because I'm going to bake a few yummy treats for the party... which means I can eat them without guilt. No guilt or diets when there's a party. That's my rule.

p.s. The Seahawks won 37-13. It was a good game =)

Water Lilies

2008-09-20T11:30:00.001-07:00

Water lilies in the Getty Villa in Malibu, CA.

I had a great visit with family in California. My sister and I went to A Taste of Santa Monica. There was so much good food, and we ate it all!! We also went to the Getty Villa. We had been to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles but this was our first trip to the Villa. For lunch we went to Cafe Montana and saw Camryn Manheim. Neither of us are celebrity watchers, we didn't talk to her or take her picture or ask for an autograph, but it was still kind of cool.

We're going to the Seahawks game tomorrow. Today is cold and rainy, so I'm hoping the weather will be nice to us. And I hope the Seahawks WIN!!

Leaves

2008-09-12T10:29:00.000-07:00

I really like this picture.
This is what's left of the leaves that fell into water that came off the hot springs in Yellowstone. For some reason it reminds me of fall. And of the box of leaves that my aunt sent me when I was in grade school. She lives in Connecticut and sent me a box full of dried leaves, so colorful and in shapes I'd never seen before. I grew up in Hawaii, we didn't have seasons or leaves that changed color. It was very fascinating. I still have that box of leaves. I’ll have to dig them out and show them to you one day.

We are headed to southern California for the weekend to visit with family. I am very excited to see everyone, don't get me wrong, but it always seems like the weather is super great whenever we leave the state... I think the weather will be nicer here in Washington than it will be in California. *sigh*

Have a great weekend.

Discovery

2008-09-11T10:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, while reading this, I discovered this and made these:

Today I ate this for breakfast =)

You must try these!

Butterflies

2008-09-08T09:58:00.000-07:00

I took these on our trip to Yellowstone. There were so many butterflies, bees and bugs on this one plant. I need one of these in my garden!

Happy Monday.

p.s. Go here for a beautiful "picnic table cover/tablecloth/picnic blanket" giveaway.

Yellowstone trip

2008-09-04T09:06:00.000-07:00

We went on a road trip to Yellowstone over the Labor Day weekend. Neither of had been there before. It was a lot of fun. We saw some moose, from far away...

We didn’t get to see as many animals as we expected, but we got our share of bison, up close and personal! Our first encounter was a bison walking up the hill in the middle of the road. He was taking his time, following in his lane. Luckily we were going in the opposite direction since he was causing a huge traffic jam.

Our other encounter was after having dinner at the Lake Lodge hotel. We were headed back to the car, but the heard of bison had other ideas for us. It was cool at first, but when they started heading our way grunting, it got a little scary. They eventually moved on and we made it back to our car.
We also got to see a bear… sort of. There was a huge traffic jam and we didn’t know what was going on. So of course we pulled over to check it out. There was a black bear (supposedly there were two, but we only saw one) WAY up on the top of a hill. We could hardly see it with the binoculars, so of course the pictures we took are like “Where’s Waldo”.
I’ll save the scenery pictures for a next time.

Garden party pooper

2008-08-23T13:12:00.000-07:00

Today is a beautiful day. We haven’t had very many of these “perfect weather” days here, so I decided I would spend some time in my garden this morning.

I love gardening, and this year my garden is doing especially well since we installed sprinklers and a fence to keep out the bunnies. I even like pulling weeds (my yard is VERY small, so pulling weeds isn’t the chore you might think it is) and deadheading my flowers.

There’s only one thing to send me back inside on a gorgeous day like today…
*Sigh* I think I’ll do the laundry now.

A birthday and a new home

2008-08-22T21:09:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of cards that I made recently.

This first card is for my sister’s 30th birthday. I used Stampin’ Up stamps and rub-ons. I’ve just started using rub-ons and have decided that they are AWESOME! They are so easy to use, no smudging like with the stamps. I always seem to make the front of the card really nice, then I go and stamp the inside and it always smudges or has those extra little lines or ink blobs from the side of the stamp. I always tell myself that next time I will start with the inside first, but I never remember.

This card is for my cousin who just moved into a new house. It’s very exciting for them. They have 2 small children and they are moving from a small one story to a gigantic 2 story house. I haven’t made it down to visit yet, but I’m so happy for them.

I used sample paint cards for the background paper. The green and yellow are paint samples. I think it’s so appropriate for a housewarming card. And I also loved the names for the green paint “Tart Apple”, “Sweet Midori”, “New Green”, “Pepper Grass”. The house and trees are a stamp that I colored in (the trees) with glitter pens. I’m a big fan of the glitter pens. I have so many sets of them. Even if they are sold individually, I always have to buy the whole set. Everything looks so much better with just a small touch of glitter.

In jewelry news, my shop is currently being shown in the MAIN Showcase on ETSY. I am offering FREE SHIPPING through the month of August.
Have a great weekend!

Day at the Market

2008-08-16T16:51:00.000-07:00

Today is our shopping day at the Redmond Saturday Market. I found some fragrant basil and garlic that I made into some pesto. I love homemade pesto. It’s one of the simplest things to make and tastes good on so many things. Of course the basic pasta, but I also love it on tomatoes with mozzarella or mixed with cream cheese as a spread.
We also bought some cherries. I think its nearing the end of the cherry season, but they still look so delicious, how could we resist?!

And you can’t leave the Market without a bunch of flowers. This year I seem to gravitate towards everything orange. After peonies, dahlias are probably my next favorite flower, but there are so many to really pick favorites.

Can't wait for dinner!

My New Red Delicious

2008-08-12T20:48:00.000-07:00

My husband and I try to go to the Redmond Saturday Market each week. We buy our fruits and vegetables from the local farmers because they taste so much better than the stuff in the grocery store. I also buy my weekly bag of Kettle Corn.

A couple of weeks ago, I also placed an order for another kind of bag. I special ordered a large tote bag from Red Delicious Seattle. She sells her bags at the Redmond market and at Pike Place Market. I already own one of her large messenger bags that I use as a work bag, but when I saw this new tote design I just had to have one.

I finally got it in the mail today and just love it. It’s the perfect size, not too big, not too small. I picked the black and white material on the outside and she added the blue lining on the inside. LOVE IT!

I must confess that I do have somewhat of a bag fetish. I can’t get enough of them. I tried sewing a bag, knitting a bag… I just don’t have the knack. So instead I will stick to buying them!

Welcome

2008-08-10T13:41:00.000-07:00

I have finally decided it was time to start a blog...

The more I read other blogs, the more intrigued I became with the people behind them. I’m addicted. So I decided that I would start my own blog. (We’ll see if this feeds or cures me of my addiction.)
It seems like a great place to show and talk about my craft projects with others. I usually ask my husband for his opinion on my newest jewelry design and he tells me to go ask the neighbor.
Finally, we recently bought a new camera. The blogs I enjoy reading are the ones with a picture to help you “be there” with them. I love our new camera. I have so many pictures of my garden, which I will undoubtedly share with you soon.

Welcome to my blog.